Saturday, October 13, 2012

The prison and gun industries have raked in billions of dollars this year -- all while our communities continue to be destroyed by their disastrous effects. Young men and women in and out of the prison system without a chance to succeed.But these two issues continue to be ignored by the two people with the biggest platform to talk about and FIX them -- President Obama and Governor Romney. The number of prisoners in America has quadrupled since 1980. And we spend six times more on prisons than on higher education! Is that the kind of message we want to send to our children? That prisons, not children, are worth the investment? That just doesn't make sense!We must tell America's next president to do something about guns and our mass incarcerations. Steel -- whether in the form of a gun or prison bars -- will never solve our problems. We need to face our problems and find common sense solutions now. Next week, we'll deliver this petition to the two candidates before the debate in New York. We need your name so they know that Americans care about these issues that affect so many of our families.If you or someone you know has been affected by gun violence or our mass incarceration system, sign this petition TODAY>Let's give our children and families a better future, free from crime and free from profit-motivated imprisonment.

Friday, October 12, 2012

On Nov. 6, voters in California will decide whether to adopt Proposition 36, a ballot initiative that would reform the most draconian aspects of the law — and, in our view, restore the original intent of voters, which was to lock away violent career criminals for life, without unjustly throwing away the lives of small-time, nonviolent offenders like Mr. Taylor. Like most Californians, we believe that the punishment should fit the crime. We’re encouraged that polls show broad public support for the measure.